Atlantic leads Palm Beach County in preseason rankings

Sun Sentinel's Adam Lichtenstein and EmmaKate Austin preview week 1 of high school football season.

It’s the start of a new football season in Florida, and Palm Beach County teams are looking to bring a state championship trophy back for the first time since Dwyer’s 2013 title. Palm Beach teams have not gone five years without a state title since 1990-94.

The Eagles are always a talented team, and they showed it with a preseason victory over Deerfield Beach. Now it’s time for the regular season. Louisville commit Henry Bryant III leads a strong defense at nose tackle, but Atlantic’s offense could determine how far the Eagles make it this season.

Next: at Palm Beach Central, 6:30 p.m.

2. Pahokee

Pahokee has one of the county’s biggest stars in defensive end Latarie Kinsler. The lanky defensive end has been one of the top defenders in Palm Beach since his freshman year, and now he’s looking to go out with a bang. Kinsler leads a talented unit that includes junior defensive backs Geoffrey McKelton and Adrian Brown. New coach D.J. Boldin, a Pahokee alumnus, takes over a solid team that should be competitive in Class 1A.

Next: vs. University School, 6:30 p.m.

3. American Heritage-Delray

The Stallions made about as big of a statement as you can make in a preseason game with a 35-0 victory over Dwyer. Heritage has talent all over its roster, and the Stallions will look to build on their nine-win season and regional finals appearance last year.

Palm Beach Lakes has not won a district title since 1996. The Rams’ players were not even born when their team last won the district championship. Is this the year Lakes wins some hardware? It could be. Dwyer could be entering a rebuild under new coach McKinley Rolle, while Martin County and Royal Palm Beach are coming off losing seasons. Seminole Ridge could be the Rams’ biggest threat.

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Next: vs. Wellington, 6:30 p.m.

6. Palm Beach Gardens

Under new coach, Gardens alumnus Tyrone Higgins, the Gators had an influx of talented transfers. Timothy Brown, who played for Dwyer last year, is a force to be reckoned with on defense, and the Pittsburgh commit will play a big role in how much success Gardens has after a 4-6 season last year.

Next: at Suncoast

7. Benjamin

The Buccaneers lost arguably the best player in program history when cornerback Kaiir Elam graduated and enrolled at Florida, but there’s still lots of talent at the Gardens private schools. Athlete Joshua Pierre-Louis, who was the Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Class 2A-1A track and field athlete of the year, is a playmaker on both sides of the ball, and quarterback Santino Marucci is possibly Palm Beach’s best quarterback.

Next: at Glades Day

8. Palm Beach Central

It’s a new era at Palm Beach Central, as Scottie Littles takes over the program. His coaching tenure got off to a rough start in the Kickoff Classic, as the Broncos suffered a big loss to Miami Northwestern. Despite losing stars like Akeem Dent, Renato Brown and more, Palm Beach Central hopes to be just as competitive.

Next: vs. Atlantic, 6:30 p.m.

9. Wellington

It’s Year 1 of the post-Richards era at Wellington after reigning Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Class 8A-6A offensive player of the year Mark-Antony Richards graduated and enrolled at Auburn. Coach Tom Abel is putting a lot of faith in sophomore quarterback Blake Kendall and senior running back Lennori Williams to carry the load of offense this year, while Stephen Passeggiata returns for a senior year after a strong junior season.

Cardinal Newman improved to 8-3 and made the postseason last season in the Crusaders’ first year under Joe Molina. Newman won’t be such a surprise this year, and instead will look to take another step forward. Athletic senior Chris D’Or was a first-team All-County pick after rushing for more than 1,000 yards, and he’ll look to have an even bigger year in 2019.